The idea of people ‘following’ her must, logically, make Kim a leader. I wonder… does she, or anyone else, know where they’re being led? Does anyone care?

Right from an early school age we want to be popular, or at least ‘in’ with the popular group. It’s part of our desire to belong; part of peer group pressure to conform and not be different.

Yet popularity is fickle. It’s here today, gone tomorrow. It’s desirable, but it lacks substance.

Investments can be popular too. Flavour of the month. A trend or fad. One such fad that comes to mind is Student Accommodation. A decade ago it was the ‘investment du jour’. It’s now looking shaky as more and more campuses invest in ‘on site accommodation’ to unlock new streams of income as margins are squeezed on tuition. Another example is retail shops, once the darling of commercial real estate back when people went out to shop, but these are now very much ‘out of favour’ – struggling to keep tenancies in the face of the online revolution.

Investors who lack skill or knowledge often target ‘popular’ investments, or areas, believing what’s popular will be a backstop to their investment’s success. However, popularity usually comes with a purchase price premium, and the risk is that if (indeed, when?) the trend changes (such as a tenant moving out, the fad ends, etc.) then the investor will have to offer a discount to exit.

Instead of popularity, investors would be much smarter to focus on purpose – a compelling reason for acting to achieve a desired outcome. For instance, I prefer to target investments currently ‘out of favour’, with a view of letting time and/or strategy ‘fix’ them.

For example, I have just bought an investment property located near a major private hospital where the current tenant – a gym – will do for now, but where my vision for the property is to re-purpose it to become attractive for ancillary medical purposes that will attract a higher rent and sell on a lower yield (thus increasing the capital value). Can you see how I am buying what’s ‘unpopular’ but executing a purposeful strategy to make a profit?

Indeed, buying unpopular properties (or problems, as I call them), and knowing how to cost effectively ‘fix’ them is a literal licence to print money: so long as you can find problems and fix them, you’ll make money.

In summary, beware ‘Kim’ properties – deals that might look good and attract attention, but that lack substance. Instead, invest with purpose, targeting properties where you can add value by applying strategy, or are out of favour today, but will be in fashion tomorrow.

The post Purpose vs. Popularity appeared first on PropertyInvesting.com.

It’s working on the cash register at the local greengrocer. It’s a pretty good gig, and she’s enjoying earning money that she is saving to pay for an overseas trip she wants to go on.

The other night over dinner, I asked Cassie “Do you think people tend to do the minimum because they get paid the minimum, or do you think people who get paid the minimum tend to do the minimum?”

Looking at me as though I was making no sense, she replied “No idea, Dad.”

“Well”, I said “What should people do if they want to get paid more?”

“Do more?” Cassie mused.

“Well said! One final question… what comes first, the effort or the pay?”

“Probably the effort.”

“Interesting. So thinking about you here, if you want to earn more so you can have more money for your trip, I wonder… what extra work, or respectful ideas for improvement could contribute to show your boss that you want to do more than the minimum?”

The same teaching point can be applied to real estate investing. That is, people who do the minimum, tend to get the minimum.

Said differently, an investing law I’ve found to be proven right true and time again is that investing output (i.e. profit made), is commensurate with investing input (i.e. time, effort and skill contributed).

If you want more than the minimum, you first
have to contribute more time, effort and/or skill.

The only other option is to rely on luck and reap where you haven’t sown (i.e. garner a full time reward for a part-time effort), and while you might get lucky from time to time, no one I’ve ever met is able to claim they are consistently and reliably lucky.

The better saying is that ‘you make your own luck’, and as professional golfer Gary Player once remarked “the harder I practice, the luckier I get.”

As a reliable precursor to improving your profitability, what can you do to improve the quality or quantity of your investing inputs? That is, how can you:

1. Increase the amount of time you allocate to your investing
2. Improve the focus and veracity of your effort, and/or
3. Seek further training to improve your investing skills

Asking and answering these questions will help you achieve sustained investing success.

The post Theory: A Valuable Life Lesson appeared first on PropertyInvesting.com.

Voting – Choice Or Chore?

It’s easy to take what you have for granted. Where you live or work. Your partner and what s/he does for you. And the right to not only cast a vote, but to do so without fear of violence, coercion or reprisals based on your choice. It is not the same in other countries, where voting can be rigged, or could be downright dangerous to your health. 

Given you have the freedom and the right to vote, which was hard fought to protect, I urge you to use it and not cast it aside as irrelevant or inconsequential. Yes, we’re all a bit ambivalent towards politicians, and often for good reason, but let’s not confuse that with respecting and protecting our right to have a say by casting our vote.

Which Camp Are You In?

Which of the following six camps are you in?

Group 1 – Loyalists

Loyalists are those who vote according to custom or tradition, and feel like they’re being disloyal if they vote any other way. Perhaps your grandparents and parents have all voted a certain way, and, like your favourite sporting team, barracking or supporting any other team would be close to treasonous.

If that’s you, then so be it. It probably doesn’t matter what each political party’s, or individual candidates, policies are; on principle you’re convinced that one mob is better than all the others, and that’s that.

I used to be a loyalist, but then I realised that this approach is sort of squandering the ability to choose the best person with the best skills, experience and wherewithal to represent my interests (which change over time) in the political coliseum of Canberra (which also changes over time). Surely it can’t be the same person or party in every circumstance, every time, can it?

Group 2 – Intellectuals

The second group are those who reason through how they’ll vote. You’re in this camp if you go to the effort to find out who your local candidates are, what their policies are, and to think through who offers you the most upside for the least downside, and vote accordingly.

You might have a bias about who you normally ‘align’ with, but you’re not wedded to them and are open to considering another person or party if they show you a compelling reason to vote for them.

I used to be an intellectual, but suffered from information overload leading to analysis paralysis. I also became disillusioned that too many politicians say one thing and generally do another, so what’s the point?

Group 3 – Idealists

Idealists align themselves to an ideal, or a cause, and vote with the person or party that best aligns to that cause. Marriage equality, penalty rates, climate action, etc. are all ideals that many people feel strongly about.

The problem with being an idealist is that no candidate, nor political party, will perfectly mesh with all your ideals, meaning you’re going to have to compromise on one or more important principles, and that can lead to personal conflict.

For instance, one candidate might have a climate policy you support, but not align on immigration. Perhaps they have a health policy that you think is great, but not their stance on, say, franking credit refunds.

The risk with being an idealist is that you align to a broad cause or vision, without understanding the details of exactly how or what will happen to achieve it. This means that you can end up casting an aspirational vote, but end up becoming despondent and disillusioned when action is delayed or discontinued.

Group 4 –Self Sacrificers

A ballot self sacrificer is someone who votes in a way that Spock would be proud of; believing the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. That is, they vote in a way they think would be best for the country, even if it means it will be bad for them – for instance, by providing better payments to pensioners at the cost of having to pay more income tax.

If this is you, then thank you for your sacrifice.

Group 5 – Protesters

This group has a bee in their bonnet and wants to cast what I call an ‘angry’ or ‘hear me’ vote. Something, or someone, has upset them and, feeling unable to express their anger in any other way, they will take the opportunity to vent at the ballot box.

This is me in this election. My local member is going last on my House of Reps ballot paper. Why? Well, after many requests he reluctantly finally met with me, and it became clear that he was only there for himself and his party.  That is, I was there to serve his purposes, not the other way round. Maybe I was being a little naïve in my thinking, but being told to run off to bed and let the adults talk about important issues was such a put down that I’ll be voting for anyone but him.

Now, having decided who I’m not voting for, I switched back to being part intellectual, part idealist to see who else is available.

Group 6 – Informals & Donkeys

This final group either don’t like being made to vote, or else they don’t care who is elected, so they will either randomly or thoughtlessly cast their vote, or else they’ll ensure their vote doesn’t count at all.

I’m always amused by the stories of what people draw on their voting papers – a penis, an elephant, angry words, etc.

Combo

Unless you’re a staunch loyalist, it’s unlikely that you reside in just one camp. Instead you’ll belong to two or more of the six groups outlined above, and you might even move between them as time and circumstances change. That said, which group(s) are you in at this time, and why?

Who is getting your vote this time, and why?

Here’s how I recommend you vote… honestly and humbly.

Be honest to yourself, and with yourself. Understand why you vote the way you do rather than doing it in a pre-programmed or mindless manner.

Be humble. Appreciate and value a great freedom you have – something that citizens of some other countries don’t have – your chance to have a fair, equal and important say in the future of the nation. You’ll find the right vote – the best vote – for you at the intersection of your own honest and humble reflection.

All the best,

– Steve McKnight

 P.S. On an intellectual and idealist level, I found that SmartVote was a useful tool that helped me to decide which candidate is most aligned to my own values.

It’s an online questionnaire published by Australia National University. I recommend it to you. Here’s the link: https://australia.smartvote.org/en/home

The post How I Recommend You Vote In The Coming Federal Election appeared first on PropertyInvesting.com.

During the morning session, I provided a comprehensive snapshot of the WA property market using six ‘market snapshot optics’ so as to conclude whether current economic conditions were favourable (i.e. a tailwind), unfavourable (i.e. a headwind), or neutral, to rises in property prices.

The conclusion: While there were green shoot signs of a recovery underway, until jobs and migration improved, headwind conditions were likely to cause property prices to stagnate in WA.

(Although my remaining seminars in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne are all now sold out, for a limited time you can purchase the full audio of the Melbourne event, and the market update sessions from Sydney, Brisbane and Perth here).

The morning session concluded with my brand new ‘Six Rules For Investing In Headwind Conditions’, and in this article, I’d like to flesh out Rule #3 – Buy the cream, not the crap.

Fort Myers – 2009

The genesis of this rule stems from my experience buying cheap ‘crappy’ properties (see below) in Fort Myers, Florida in 2009, in a region called Pine Manor (which the locals nicknamed ‘Crime Manor’). Prices were low (duplexes that were once $150,000 were now selling for $15,000+), and yields were as high as 20% or more.

While I had to pay cash because I couldn’t borrow in the US, I bought as many of these properties as I could afford, and I ended up with about 60 plexes that were forecast to deliver a huge annual net income on paper. Life was good… until you factored in the extra aggravation of dealing with properties with deferred maintenance, and tenants and management that were all in the category of ‘extra grace required.’

Six or so years later, those properties had increased in value three or four fold, which sounds impressive, but when you factor in the initial repairs, the turn costs every time a tenant moved out, and the aggravation, it wasn’t quite as glorious as it seems.

Good Advice From Uncle Zally

Reflecting upon this with my real estate mentor – Stu ‘Uncle Zally’ Silver, he observed, “You know 9-Cup (that’s what he calls me, after the nine cups of tea he claims I extract from each tea bag), you’d have been better off buying fewer better quality properties in better quality areas.” 

“How so, Uncle?” I replied.

“Well, those better properties have now appreciated more in value, and you wouldn’t have needed to carry a gun to collect the rent.”

Once again, Uncle Zally was right. While those ‘cream properties’ (in Cape Coral) were dearer than the crappy cheaper ones in Crime Manor, the yield I’d have sacrificed to buy middle class houses, in middle class Cape Coral would have been more than offset by the additional capital appreciation earned over the time I owned the property, plus the tenants would have been much less aggravating. 

The Lesson

When the property market is experiencing headwind conditions, real estate prices are soft and it’s easier to negotiate substantial discounts. In such times, I urge you to learn from my mistake, and seek to buy cheaper ‘cream properties’ that will be periodically on sale than the ‘crappy cheapies’ which may look enticing on paper, but will come with additional aggravation.

No, I’m not talking about multi-million dollar mansions, just nice houses, in nice suburbs, where nice people like to live. 

You’ll find that, as the market recovers, those with good jobs will be able to borrow more money, which will facilitate well-located and quality properties to appreciate quickly, whereas cheaper areas will remain the domain of investors and affordable house buyers – both of whom are always hunting for a bargain.

Do you have a question, a thought or a tip of your own to share? Join the discussion here by leaving a comment now. 

Until next time, remember that success comes from doing things differently.

Regards,

– Steve

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Want the rest of Steve’s rules for investing in a headwind, along with his rules for investing in a tailwind, and also the full recording of his Melbourne 1-day event AND the market update portions of his Sydney, Brisbane and Perth events? These are on sale now here for a limited time

The post Buy The Cream, Not The Crap appeared first on PropertyInvesting.com.

Here’s an illustrative case study to help flesh out the theory…

Ben and Brittany are hard workers and look forward to their annual two week Christmas / New Year holiday at their favourite beachside destination – a three hour drive from the property they are currently renting as their principal place of residence. They love it there, and are always commenting about how nice it would be to have a holiday home for their (planned) kids and (hoped for) grandkids. They see a ‘shack’ for sale for $500,000 (which is about half of the value of the place they’re renting) and, although it’s a stretch, if they rented it out when they weren’t using it to help pay the mortgage, they might be able to afford it. Besides, they’re sure it will make a good investment because it will appreciate in value over time.

What should they do?

Around this time every year a question may pop into your head… is it a good idea to buy a holiday home? After all, it’s summer holidays and the weather is warm, so the idea of having a holiday retreat to escape to is very appealing – so the romance of the proposition may have you reaching for the computer to see what’s available, and for how much.

However, before making an emotionally charged purchase, here are six ‘reality reminders’ to consider:

1. Pleasure Or Profit?

Robert Kiyosaki, author of ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’, says that your home isn’t an asset but rather a liability.

I disagree. A home, or a holiday home, meets the accounting definition of an asset since it holds future value. However, a choice needs to be made about whether the property is a lifestyle, or financial, asset. 

Lifestyle assets are purchased for pleasure. The returns are enjoyment and happy memories.

Financial assets are purchased for profit. The returns are (net) rent and/or capital appreciation.

A distinction between these two purposes is needed because the motivation and psychology for purchasing, holding, and eventually selling real estate differs depending on whether you’re holding it for pleasure or profit.

For instance, if you own a financial asset that consistently loses money, then it should be sold and the money redeployed. On the other hand, a lifestyle asset that loses money might still be kept, provided the perceived enjoyment exceeds the actual cost.

Just be careful where and when you have mixed motives. That is, buying a lifestyle asset for perceived financial benefits, or purchasing a financial asset for perceived lifestyle benefits. The lack of clarity might mean you end up with a conflicted asset that doesn’t perform to its maximum potential in either a lifestyle or a financial capability.

For Ben & Brittany, they seem to be unsure about whether the investment is being purchased for lifestyle (i.e. enjoyment), or financial (i.e. monetary) purposes. The holiday home seems to be a lifestyle asset with financial upside, yet enjoyment compromises will need to be made in order to afford it, and the added financial pressure may offset any enjoyment.

If they are buying for enjoyment there shouldn’t be any added financial pressure, and if they are purchasing for profit, the question needs to be asked “is this the best capital growth property we can find?” Another consideration is how will this purchase affect their ability to purchase a home or other investment property.

2. Use

How often do you think you’ll use the holiday home? The risk is that you overstate your use based on how you feel when you purchase it – i.e. it’s fine when you’re on holiday and the location is in peak season, but, once you own it, you may find it harder to consistently get away. Work commitments, birthday parties, school sports, etc. have a habit of invading the time you otherwise hoped to get away.

Consider this: if you planned to visit the property every other weekend then you’ll be occupying it 52 days a year. That might sound like a lot, but what you’re also saying is that the property will be unoccupied 85% of the time (i.e. 313 days).

If you decide to rent the property first and then backfill the empty periods by using it yourself then, as mentioned above, you’re choosing to compromise your enjoyment because it will be in more demand during the choicest times – usually school holidays. You may also find it hard to plan a family vacation, as you’ll want to keep it available for rent until the last minute.

Remember too that shoulder and off-peak seasons will see an increase in the available properties for rent at a time when demand drops off, so rental income will decrease. Furthermore, that peak rental time will be when the property is at its best. Using it yourself at that time will really hurt your potential return.

Finally, sometimes people purchase a holiday home with a view of renting it out, but, after a couple of bad experiences, they become reluctant to continue – either because the property is soiled or damaged, or because the idea of having strangers sleeping in your bed and/or using your household items is a turn-off. For this reason there is a tendency to furnish holiday homes rather sparsely and, while practical, the lack of ‘home touches’ makes it less of a holiday home and more of a holiday rental. 

While Ben & Brittany will hope to use it more, at the moment they’re both hard workers and so are unlikely to have a lot of discretionary time to drive three hours each way to their holiday home. Furthermore, to maximise their return, they’ll want to rent it out during peak-season, which coincides with the times when they presently visit that location and want to use it themselves.

3. Management

Unless the holiday home is nearby, you’re going to need some sort of local management oversight to advertise rental availability*, and to arrange for rental, access, post-use inspection, cleaning, replacement of consumables, etc.

* For sure, the internet has made it easier for tenants to book direct with the owner, but this self-management option does not solve the other problems of managing access, checking the property is left in good condition, cleaning, etc.

Good management doesn’t come cheap, and holiday rental management is usually charged at a premium for the extra services provided. If the plan is to self-manage, then this will require time and expertise.

Ben & Brittany are three hours away, and so any need to ‘pop down’ and do something to the property will be six hours of driving, plus the cost of petrol, wear and tear on the car, etc. Given they’re busy people, they’d be sensible to use a local property manager, but this will eat up a fair chunk of their peak-season rental profits. 

4. Ownership Onus

Being the owner of a holiday home carries with it extra fiscal responsibilities – like being charged council rates and land tax, paying usage costs such as cleaning, maintenance, utilities, etc. and, of course, sourcing and paying insurance – which can be difficult to obtain in areas prone to flood, bushfire, or if the property will be vacant for substantial periods of time. 

Given they currently rent their principal place of residence, and also their holiday accommodation, Ben & Brittany may be unaware of the potential type and cost of likely ownership expenses. As such, it will be important for them to do a thorough due diligence in order to complete an accurate financial analysis. The risk is that they’ll over-estimate the income, and under-estimate the expenses.

5. Resale

Holiday homes can be easy to buy, but harder to sell. This is because the available pool of buyers is often limited to fellow holiday home owners, and those looking to downsize and permanently move to that location.

Holiday homes are a discretionary purchase. When interest rates rise and/or economic conditions decline, the justification for owning one diminishes. Hence, during such occasions, housing supply of holiday homes tends to increase as the number of interested buyers diminish, and this will put downwards pressure on prices and increase the time it will take to sell. 

Ben & Brittany have a multi-generational timeline for ownership, so they’d be smart to consider purchasing it in a structure (i.e. company or trust) that would allow for continued family use without passing on ownership to any particular sibling.

6. Flexibility

Once you own a holiday home you become committed to using it to get ‘value for money’. One downside to this is that you may not be able to afford, or want, to go elsewhere for future holidays.

Going to a destination because you want to is different from going to a destination because you have to. The former is a choice. The latter is an obligation. Being obliged to do something detracts from its enjoyment.

 Ben & Brittany only have four weeks vacation a year, and to get value for money they’ll want to spend as much time as possible at the holiday house. One opportunity cost would be in missing out on the vacations they might have had elsewhere.

Conclusion

If you’re considering buying a holiday house for profit, then you need to ask whether it’s the best rental and/or capital appreciation opportunity you can find. A good question to consider is whether you would buy the property even if you assumed you couldn’t use it.

Alternatively, if you’re thinking of buying the property as a lifestyle asset, then assuming you can afford it, you need to realistically evaluate whether the actual and opportunity cost and commitment of ownership will outweigh the enjoyment you’ll gain from using it. Now the question to consider is – would you buy it if you found you couldn’t easily rent it?

The worst place to be is conflicted – stuck in the middle between purchasing for pleasure and purchasing for profit. Instead of getting the absolute best of either, you risk having the worst of both.

While it may seem like an attractive proposition, I believe Ben & Brittany would be better advised to continue renting their holiday accommodation and looking to either invest elsewhere for profit, or, if they want to purchase a lifestyle asset, buy a home where they’d spend more time living. Later in life, once they’re more financially secure, and, assuming they still have the desire, they can then purchase a better holiday home with more fiscal and family certainty.

That’s my say, but what do you think – do holiday homes make good investments?

The post Do Holiday Homes Make Good Investments? appeared first on PropertyInvesting.com.

This foe exists within every man and woman on the planet, so to get to where you want to go, you must overcome it. Few people ever do, and that is why the road to success is littered with broken dreams. What is the name of this enemy?

It is called “resistance.”

It is the resistance to do the things you must do to help you succeed. Some people call this enemy “procrastination,” but procrastination is the fruit or result. The seed is resistance.

It Happens to Everybody

When I was writing my bestselling book, it was easy to procrastinate, to defer, to think another project was more important. However, the seed was in my resistance to sit down and just do what I needed to do, which was hammering away at that keyboard.

It is the same situation with all creative endeavours or actions that yield the highest results. Business people will happily check their emails 10 times a day, yet they resist working on that all-important marketing piece that could treble their leads. Salespeople will shuffle paperwork mindlessly instead of handling follow up calls to get more real estate investors to look at their properties.

Where does resistance come from? Answering that question is the first step in defeating it. It comes from within you. When you square off to that fact, you are well on your way to winning. But that is a hard, yet important step to take. Most people want to blame something or something else; however, realizing resistance is within you is the first step to overcoming it.

A Little Formula with Big Result

Here is a great formula that can generate big results and really get you going. It’s called Start – Stop – More – Less.

• Start – Start doing something. Make a commitment to doing at least one thing every day that generates an income or gets you closer to a goal.
• Stop – Stop doing the things that don’t work. One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting a different result.
• More – Do more of what works. You wouldn’t believe the number of clients who have been making a lot with a marketing or business strategy – then simply forget to keep doing it. Do more of what works, and less of what doesn’t.
• Less – Do less of the unimportant things. Make a list of things you do that waste time, so you’ll know what to address.

A Huge Tip for You

The biggest tip for you is to start your day with at least one thing that produces income. Don’t clear your inbox first, or catch up on “stuff.” Do the most important thing in your day first. Re-train your brain. Whatever you do first is what you believe to be the most important thing on your list.

Wishing you every success.

The post Your Greatest Enemy appeared first on PropertyInvesting.com.

Implementation, not knowledge, is the key. There are many ways to make more money. You have to work smarter, not harder and understand cutting edge marketing skills to create more leads and conversions. However, if you know all those ways and don’t act on them, what is the point?

When I first came up with the idea of writing my first book, the obstacles seemed insurmountable. For starters, I couldn’t type. It was 1999, and back then not everyone typed. I couldn’t even tap with two fingers.

Not only that, I wasn’t a writer, so I got a typing program and took some courses on writing. Later, I was staggered when two major publishers told me it was an extremely well written and well crafted book.

I never thought of myself as a writer and I can tell you my old school teachers didn’t, either. There is an old saying, that starts with a question: “How do you eat an elephant? The answer is: “One bite at a time.” Basically I had a big goal and all I had to do was follow the steps to get there.

This next part may sound strange to you, but do you know what my deepest motivation was to write the book?

I honestly believed, after decades of research, I had to put down in print what I knew. But even for someone like myself who loves talking to people and has trained tens of thousands of them on three continents, sitting in front of a computer every day was a challenge.

What spurred me on was the thought that I had to finish this book before I got hit by a truck and never got a chance to leave what I believed was an important message. So here is another clue: Find a purpose that is bigger than you are.

After I had finally written the book, I had the deepest intuition to self-publish it. Everyone thought I was mad. The howls of derision were deafening: “Do you know the odds of a self-published book ever making it? Are you crazy?” But I went ahead anyway.

Everyone said I would never stand a chance against the big publishing houses. I didn’t know anything about publishing. But once again, we did the research and we opened up our own publishing house. We called it “Avargo Press.” Say the name, “Avargo,” quickly – it stands for, “Have a go.” That’s a big clue.

When the book hit several bestseller lists, many people were dumbfounded. Eventually, Harper Collins published it – one of the world’s biggest publishing houses. So, the next time you have a dream to do something – just simply begin. Keep following the steps until you get to where you want to go.

Mark Twain once said: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So, throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

The post The Power of Action appeared first on PropertyInvesting.com.

The secret I am about to reveal to you has the potential to transform your life.

In my opinion, it can also minimise your stress because it will make you more efficient, so you will get more done in less time. The secret lies in your ability to differentiate between a process goal and an outcome goal.

Susan’s Story

Susan was attending one of my seminars when I asked her to read out loud what she would like to get out of the training. Looking down at her notes, she read from the page, “I would like to learn more about how I can make money, so that I would have the skills to become wealthy.”

Turning to look directly at her, I simply asked, “Is that a process goal or an outcome goal?”

Her face looked puzzled, “what do you mean?

“A process goal is something you set that will create a process, whereas an outcome goal is something that gives you a desired outcome. For example, if I said to you that I would like to learn how to lose weight, that would be a process goal; however, if I said to you that I wanted to lose five kilos in three weeks, then that would be an outcome goal.”

Her face cleared and a small smile appeared at the corners of her mouth as she replied, “I see. So what I have really set is a process goal.”

“Yes,” I replied, “Saying that you want to learn more about how to make money is a process goal because you are committed to the process of learning; however, there is no real commitment to the actual outcome of making money.”

I let her take in the information before firing off another question. “Does it take a lot of time for you to manifest your goals?”

Nodding her head in the affirmative, she looked up and said, “Now I know why it takes so long!”

 The Three Types of Business Owners

In terms of running a business, there are generally three types of people:

1. The Strugglers – These people just run around in reaction to what life and business throws at them. 
2. The Organised – These people are organised and work through their list or diary and achieve a lot, but they don’t necessarily make a lot of money.
3. The Wealthy – Like The Organized, these people work through their list also; however, the massive difference is that their list contains things that make money.

All three people are driven by entirely different outcomes. They may work the same hours, but the result is completely different.

People who achieve great outcomes usually have clear outcome goals.

The key is to begin with the end in mind of exactly what you want.

For example, if you wanted to learn how to paint, then discover what desired outcome you want. Is it to have fun, to create relaxation for yourself or to make a masterpiece? All three goals have different outcomes. 

If you are not clear on your outcome, it is difficult to arrive at a finite destination.  And, if you do not have a finite destination, you are more likely to increase your stress, which decreases your ability to be successful.

 A Lesson from Nelson Mandela

I remember seeing a documentary where they interviewed the head negotiator for the South African government during the final months of Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment.

The negotiator said he often felt that the government was unclear about what they really wanted; however, he said that Nelson Mandela was extremely clear about what he wanted – freedom for himself and his people. He believed it was this clarity of direction that led to Nelson Mandela eventually becoming the new president.

The key is to determine exactly what outcome you want, and then go for that.

Having mixed with countless high achievers, I can tell you that in virtually every case, they possessed this one ability in spades.

The post Is This Why It Takes So Long to Achieve Your Dreams? appeared first on PropertyInvesting.com.

It is I believe, the key to deep productivity and more importantly creativity. It is not for the faint of heart and for few people I have recommended it to others, but have never done it.

The secret is … (wait for it) … boredom.

Yep, bear with me…

In today’s world most people have been reduced from human beings into human doings. 

All of nature is cyclic, and yet humans have departed from this. People have often wondered how I get through so much work in so little time. When I am on, I am completely on.

However, I have also spent considerable amounts of time when I completely switch off.

Most people think of down time as doing things like watching a movie, reading a book or playing a video game, but that isn’t really switching off.

I have had times, when for weeks on end, I will not check emails or phone messages – where I only hang out in nature.

After a period of months of full on work, I can tell you that the first few days are difficult.  I get bored.

This is where most people bail out. They get distracted – they have to start doing something. The boredom feels painful to them and they just want it to go away.

The key is going through this to where you arrive at what I call the “let go state.”

The great author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, once said, “Boredom is not an end product, but rather an early stage in life and art. You have to go by, or past, or through boredom, as through a filter, before the clear product emerges.”

Mary Mann, a researcher into boredom, found that scientifically there are great benefits into going through boredom and it is something that we should embrace.

Benefits

There are four great benefits I have found when I have been willing to switch off from the world and truly immerse myself in nature:

1. It has created a tremendous clarity into the direction I need to take in my life. I believe all great endeavours start with “listening” to where we are meant to go, rather than forcing ourselves down a dead end road.
2. The power of my seminars has always radically jumped after such a period.
   
   
3. My happiness has jumped significantly. I believe that one of the reasons that people in the western world are unhappy is they will not go through the “let go cycle.”
   
   
4. Some of my biggest ideas have emerged during these times. Some of these ideas have made me serious money – so much for the theory that I was wasting my time – it was time well spent.

As I said in the beginning, this approach is not for the faint of heart. I would get a better result if I just tried to sell you the latest social media strategy to make a million in five minutes – but that wouldn’t be the truth. I believe getting really, really clear before you start launching any strategies is infinitely more powerful.

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Today’s topic is especially important. Herein lies a simple way you can have success, balance, and the life you really want. In a moment, I am going to cover the four essential skills you need to have to attain happiness.

Talking about happiness from a guy who is renowned for making quite a few people rich and successful may seem strange; however the only real purpose of having money is to get a life and give a life. Money is there for you to have an amazing life, and hopefully, to help others have a better life. I mean if money doesn’t make you happy, then what’s the point?

Let me start by asking you this question: Will your education allow you to make money and find happiness?

 I was watching a documentary by a Cambridge graduate. He said that after years of study at university and school, he had concluded that he was still ill equipped for the real world. It had allowed him to find a better job, but not necessarily know what his ideal profession was or understand money. As he looked at his peers 10 years after university, he could find no difference in their level of wealth, happiness or relational success than many people without that level of education.

Having spoken to some big groups of people, I would routinely ask the audience, “How many of you felt that school equipped you with the skills to become financially successful?” Less than two per cent thought that it did. The other 98 per cent felt they were ill equipped for the real world.

When I was at school, I started up a business that reinforced our school straw hats by putting a thin coat of resin on them to increase their longevity. The school deemed this activity as “unseemly,” even though it actually saved the parents money.

 Rather than supporting my entrepreneurial mind set, they clamped down on this activity because it was outside their paradigm. To them, what was important was algebra and trigonometry, even though I have never used these in any of the successful businesses I have owned.

So, if you want to be happy what kind of skills do you need?

If you want to have an awesome life, there are “Four Lives” you must master. These four skills will ripple into every area of your life and touch everyone you meet.

 These four essential skills are:

1. Financial
2. Relational
3. Spiritual – Some might call these happiness or personal fulfilment skills.
4. Health

To have a life of balance, you have to have all four skills.

Why?

These skills will give you the ability to become financially free, have a relationship that nurtures you, attain peace and happiness, and maintain a good level of health and vitality.

I sometimes call these four lives, or four skills, “The Confusion Smasher.” If someone comes to me and says, “I am confused as to what my next step is in life,” my answer is invariably the same: Have a good look at your life and ask this question: “Which of these four lives is currently demanding more attention right now?”

If you listen, life will tell you what you are avoiding or what you should be doing.

The key word is: Listen!

Sometimes working longer and harder leads to less results! One important principle is to learn how to work smarter, not necessarily longer or harder. 

I am a big believer in taking several months’ holidays a year. When planning our year, my wife and I pencil in all the holidays first into our calendar. Then we work the business around that. This allows me the time to work on some of those other “lives.”

Another way of doing it is to spend time every day, even if it is just a brief period, working on some of your other lives.

What happens if you don’t have the life you really want? Here is the good news. It’s never too late to get the education you really need. Begin by asking yourself, “Which one of these four areas do I need to devote more time to?” Then, simply start to become more educated in that arena.

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